From The Cloister at Sea Island to the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky and Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina’s Low Country , Hart Howerton has created some of the world’s most beloved destinations. The firm, whose CEO Jim Tinson along with Partners Tim Slattery and David Rau are all DLN Members, design what they call “complete environments,” synthesizing the experience of a place through site planning, landscape, architecture and interiors to develop properties that push the boundaries of hospitality and residential design. Here, Jim Tinson talks to the DLN about the firm’s approach, his take on the future of the hospitality industry, and why experience is the most important offering.
Tell us about your concept of a “complete environment.”
We have always said that you have to have an interdisciplinary focus, from planning and landscape architecture to architecture and interiors. I think that truly magical places don't draw lines between disciplines—it's a seamless experience.
What does the process look like for you and your team when undertaking a project of the scale you do?
Everything we do starts with a strategic planning step—effectively it’s business planning with a comprehensive vision. You begin by identifying what's unique about a site, understanding the market, how to differentiate a particular asset, and learning what the distinct opportunities are of a particular location. We're fortunate that nothing we do is formulaic. I think the truly special places that people return to year after year, and generation after generation, have a magic to them that is rooted in their place.
With that in mind, what we do as we work is try to understand: What's the vision and what is the strategy of a particular place, and then what opportunities come from that location? We like to think: What is a day in the life of a particular place like? How does a place want to live? Because ultimately, we are creating places for people to spend time. We don't start with what it looks like and try to squeeze life into it. We start with the life of a place, and then we create a physical setting that reflects the kind of experiences that you want to have there. That’s how you get to the core DNA of a place.
What kind of research do you do before you dive into a project?
We try to understand everything about the physical environment, its history, context, and culture to inform our design. That includes how the property has been used in the past and the qualities we want to retain. From there we identify the opportunities and the constraints of a place: What's the climate and how will that influence how people will spend their time, along with the impact on what, and how, you can build there. We work in a lot of environments with high climate risks, from the coast to the mountains, so we always consider how to build smart, and sustainably, in these locations. A lot of the places that we all work today are the highest risk climate environments. So you have to think about that. How do I build smart in a coastal climate?
You work across so many different locations; how do you familiarize yourself with new countries or cities where you are doing business?
We try to create places that are responsive to the environment that they are in, so you have to get to know these places. One of my favorite things to do is to bring my family on location because you see it through a different perspective. Nothing beats the honesty of kids when you want to understand a place! You have to get to know the local culture and understand how that has shaped the way those settings have existed over time. And as you immerse yourself, you understand the details of that particular environment and how that contributes to a unique place. I was just in a meeting where we were talking about local food culture, which quickly led to a conversation about craft with questions like: where can we find emerging local artists? Who is innovating the local F&B scene? What local artisans can help shape our thinking? How can all these influence the experience of this place for a new generation?
We don’t design objects that you can just drop in any environment and make them fit; we design unique places that are memorable in how they respond to their setting.
How do you design for the longevity of a place?
We start from a premise that we are going to create a landmark environment that becomes a legacy in its own community; a place that people return to year after year, generation after generation. When you start from that position of permanence, you maximize value for the long-term.
What we’re trying to do is to create spaces that are going to be flexible and adaptable over time. We seek to extend traditions for the next generation. When we worked on Half Moon in Jamaica, for example, we embraced the history of an historic destination, but also realized that people use spaces differently today than they did before. With this in mind, we created a new set of environments for new experiences, but designed in a way that it feels familiar, yet fresh. The core culture and identity has not changed, it has just been reinterpreted for the next generation.
What are the biggest ways you’ve seen the hospitality industry change over the course of your career?
Particularly at the luxury end of the market, the whole industry has really embraced experience-driven destinations. Everyone is looking for unique experiences, whether that’s a hotel, club or resort. As a firm, we have been fortunate to work in very distinct, unique places with visionary developers, investors, and families that want to do something different. Now, that's what's demanded—you don't have to convince anybody to do that. We are seeing that customers are more widely traveled than they've ever been, and when they go to a particular place, they value authenticity. The want to experience something that they haven't experienced before and I think that is certainly the direction of the industry. It's about not feeling like a commodity. So, we are creating the physical settings that allow the operations and service teams to deliver this unique experience.
What are you most excited for in the future of either your firm or the industry at large?
We have certainly seen a significant surge in the hospitality world since COVID, and I think that has created great opportunities for innovation. There has been a clear embrace of health and well-being as a driver of experiences. I'm excited at the response to our commitment to create healthy places that drive positive health outcomes. That is not just about fitness rooms and spas — we are focused on how every aspect of what you do when you're on a property makes you feel healthier, mentally and physically. And I think that's exciting.
With that, there is also an understanding that we as an industry have an opportunity to create things that are not just beautiful but are also sustainable and resilient. I get excited by what we continue to do in that space and I‘m confident the customer appreciates that too.
This story is from Issue 3 of The Quarterly. Click here to see the full issue.
